


the fall of the council

by narcissacronin



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22022701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narcissacronin/pseuds/narcissacronin
Summary: a what-if scenario where nova succeeded in killing captain chromium in the beginning of renegades
Comments: 5
Kudos: 25





	the fall of the council

_ Captain Chromium was dead _ .

The Council was finally dead. Not a single one of them remained.

It would be a matter of time now before the Anarchists got what they wanted and for Gatlon to return to anarchy.

_ She had pulled the trigger. _

**Minutes prior...**

The trigger pressed into Nova’s finger.

She took aim at Captain Chromium, anger and adrenaline pumping through her veins. A butterfly landed on her scope, momentarily distracting her. She shook herself, the ever-constant reminder that she only had one chance playing in the back of her mind.

Captain Chromium turned his head skyward, and, for a second, it felt like he was looking _directly_ at her.

Nova took aim again, finding her target in the scope. She let out a shaky breath and pulled the trigger.

The dart hit him in the corner of the eye, barely hitting the target.

Captain Chromium flinched, hand going up to the dart. It would be no use for him to remove it, the poison was already entering his system—and Nova sensed he knew that. His hand stilled in midair. Eyes rolled back in his head. He collapsed, the pike with Ace’s helmet falling out of his hand and rolling into the shrieking crowd.

The loud cheers of the crowd turned into terrified shrieks as people ran from the scene.

The Dread Warden cried out, “Hugh!” and stumbled towards the Captain’s body, kneeling beside him. Even from Nova’s vantage point, she could see tears streaming down the Dread Warden’s cheeks. But that was all he had to time do before Ingrid started hitting the float with her bombs.

The Dread Warden, Tsunami, and Blacklight. All dead. 

Ingrid whooped shrilly into the earpiece, congratulating Nova.

She watched from the rooftop as Ingrid hit the Council’s parade float with her bombs.

But Thunderbird had been able to escape in time, flying above the float. Knowing this is where Phobia would come in, Nova took this as her opportunity to leave before any Renegade tried to stop her.

By now, almost all of the citizens had run away. And any stragglers left were scurrying away as quickly as they could.

“Nightmare, we need you down here,” Ingrid said through the earpiece.

“Roger,” Nova replied, her voice quavering.

Nova stood up on wobbly legs, her entire body shaking. The realization of what she did started to really set in.

She had pulled the trigger.

She couldn’t believe she actually  _ pulled the trigger _ .

This wasn’t how Nova expected her first kill to be. She’d expected to be proud. Instead, she felt almost sad. Almost felt bad for killing for him.

But then she remembered what he did to her family. Any ounce of remorse she held for him disappeared and was replaced with anger. She was  _ glad  _ he was dead. She’d finally gotten her revenge, after ten long, lonely years. Sure, she’d had Ace and the Anarchists, but it just wasn’t the same. It was always on the coldest and darkest nights that she longed to be held by her parents and to hold Evie just one more time.

Nova took a few deep breaths before placing her rifle in it and slung the bag over her shoulder Glancing around, she started planning out the best route of escape.

She scaled a fire escape, looking around nervously every few seconds. Her feet hit the ground with a soft thump, then she dashed out of the alleyway, glancing down the street. Ingrid had moved on from the parade float—all of the members already dead—though Phobia was still torturing Thunderbird with snakes.

Nova made eye contact with Ingrid.

Ingrid loaded her gun and raised. Took aim at Thunderbird. Fired.

Blood arced across the street and the wall of a building. Thunderbird fell from the sky with a mighty scream, landing on the ground with a thud. Her body shuddered as she took in her final breaths.

Nova had to look away, unable to watch as blood pooled beneath Thunderbird’s body.

Visions of her parents’ bodies flooded her vision. Suddenly, she was six-years-old again. Alone and terrified. Not a single soul in the world to protect her. Blood was splattered on her face and hair and hands and clothes. It was everywhere and no matter where she looked, she couldn’t escape it.

As Nova ran through the small apartment to escape the hitman, she passed a sleeping Evie who was soon replaced with a screaming baby who cried as the hitman held her up and pointed the gun at her head.

Nova let out a shrill scream, hands going to her ears and breaths coming out in short bursts. She started to back away from the scene, desperately wanting to escape it.

The vision faded and the chaos of reality settled back around her.

_ Bang. _

She pulled the trigger.

_ Bang. _

Captain Chromium was dead and it was all because of her.

_ Bang. _

Her vision blurred and tears started to stream down her cheeks.

Someone shouted her name. Hands landed on her shoulder, shaking her.

It took a few seconds, but Nova eventually snapped out of it.

Ingrid stood in front of her, eyes wild and covered in blood. Though Nova doubted any of it belonged to her.

“Snap out of it,” Ingrid said harshly. “We need you to focus now—in case any Renegades decide to stage an attack.” She glanced around nervously and leaned in closer, lowering her voice. “You need to head back to the tunnels and notify the other Anarchists of the success of our mission. Phobia and I won’t be far behind you, but there are... _ matters _ for us to attend to before we go back.”

Nova nodded, words feeling thick in her mouth. She didn’t trust herself to say anything.

Ingrid dropped her hands. “Go,” she whispered. Then a wide grin spread across her face and she turned back to Phobia.

A thick sense of dread filled Nova’s stomach but she did as she was told and started the journey back to the tunnels. The whole way back, she kept to the shadows, paranoid. Always glancing around every few seconds to make sure no one was following her.

“I pulled the trigger,” she whispered to herself as she neared the entrance to the tunnels.

Nova found Honey first, who was sitting in her room at her vanity, admiring herself in the mirror. She didn’t notice Nova standing in the doorway until Nova said, “The Council’s dead.”

Nova didn’t stick around to see Honey’s reaction, running to Leroy’s and Winston’s cars to tell them the news. She didn’t stay to see either of their reactions, instead sprinting to her own car and breaking down. Muttering, “I pulled the trigger,” over and over again, all the while wondering where that courage had been ten years ago when her baby sister’s life had been on the line.

_ Captain Chromium was dead. _

_ She had pulled the trigger. _


End file.
